Former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page must have received his copy of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s request for Russian communications that went out last week to several Trump associates. In response, he’s issued the road-rage version of a letter (which is nine pages long) to complain about a “bitter” investigation full of “harsh retribution.” Page’s missive landed on the day that former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates will testify on election interference in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but that’s pure coincidence.
Page feels that he’s being unjustly targeted for his speech-giving trips to Moscow and his meetings with a Russian spy. Page has extensive ties in Russia and lived there for three years, but he’s always insisted — in shifty interviews — that his behavior was innocent. The FBI previously determined that Russia tried to use Page to infiltrate the Trump campaign. They never accused Page of spying for the Russians, but he is furious that he’s being asked for more information.
CNN posted a copy of the letter, which is … something. He quotes Maya Angelou and cites the final scene of The Big Short as something that the committee should watch to learn about the “Clinton/Obama regime’s justice system.” He rambles about Monica Lewinsky, and yeah, there’s no making sense of this. Essentially, it all comes down to Page feeling like no one is listening to his version of the truth:
“I still haven’t heard back from anyone over 63 days later. Rather than answering my questions as you had proposed on multiple occasions, I have only received your massive data dump request of April 28, 2017 which would cover redundant, highly irrelevant information collected in further violation of my civil rights given the unjustified FISA warrants which already targeted me last year. It seems logical that having an actual conversation like human beings might prove more productive, as you had originally offered and in contrast to the Big Brother methods of the Obama Administration in 2016.”
Can you imagine what will happen after Page ignores the Senate Intelligence Committee’s request for his Russian emails/notes/cocktail napkins, and then they subpoena him for testimony? They’ll definitely ask him about that Moscow trip that was financed by the Trump campaign. He’ll have to address how Russia’s state-owned oil giant, Rosneft, offered him a 19% company share if he worked to lift their Russian sanctions. He’ll go bonkers on C-SPAN.
This investigation probably won’t turn out well for Page, but this letter functions as glimpse into his wild consciousness. He continues to insist that he only had “brief interactions” with the Russian spy, and he says that providing more documentation would unduly require “hundreds of hours” of labor — because he thinks Obama already conducted full surveillance of his activities. And besides, he’d rather spend those hours writing furious letters.
You can read the full letter here.
(Via CNN)